Rotary steam-engine



(No Model.) 3 SheetsSheet 1.

G. A. CALLENDER 80 E. W. PARNO. ROTARY STEAM ENGINE.

No. 586,895. Patented July 20, 1897.

IIIIIIIIIIIIiIK//// (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2. O. A. CALLENDER 8a E. W. PARNO.

ROTARY STEAM ENGINE.

Patented July 20, 1897.

/6' L Jhuezz/ors WM (No Model.) 3 SheetS Sheet 3.- C. A. CALLENDER- 85 -E. W. PARNO ROTARY STEAM ENGINE.

Patented'July 20, 1897.-

l lNiTED STATES OHARLESA. CALLENDER AND EMIL W. PARNO, or ensnnaiown ROTARY STEAM-ENGINE.

PATENT OFFICE.

. 'sPnoxFIoA'mon feltin part of Letters Patent No. 586,895, dated July 20; 1897.

' Application and March 2,1897. sedans-625,703. (NomodeL) To all whom it may concern;

Be'it knownthat we, CHARLES A. CALLEN DER'and EMIL W. PARNO, citizens of the United. States, residing at Greene, in the "county of Butler and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in'Rotary Steam-Engines and we do declare the following to be'a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable. others skilled in the art to which it ap 'pertains'to make and use the same. Q/

.Our invention relates to improvements 'in rotar; steam-enginesyand its novelty and many advantages will be fully understood from the following description and claims when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical transverse section of our'improved' engine with some of the parts broken away. Fig. 2 is a detail section taken in the plane indicated by the line was of Fig.

1 and illustrating the governor: Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section taken in the plane indicated by the Iiney y oiFig. 1, with Fig. .4 is a. detail section taken in the plane indicated'by the line w w of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the-piston removed, Fig. 6

IS an enlarged sectional perspective view illustrating a portion of one casing-section'and one of the segmental packing-bars; and Fig.

7 is a detail perspective view of one endfof the packing-bars, illustrating the recess therein for the reception'of -one of the blades of the piston, In the said drawings similar letters designate corresponding parts in all of the several views, referring to which: A'jndicates the casing of the engine, which is preferably formed by two longitudinal castmetal sections B, connected by' transverse bolts a, with a Babbitt-metal packing h be: tween them, and comprises the central airchamber' c, with journal-bearings d on oppo-i site sides of the same, the annular piston- I chamber e, in which the blades of the piston are arranged and adapted to move, the. gate: casings fi-which intersect the annular chamber e,anfd the valve-casings g, which are connectedby'parts h with the annular pistonchambereat the points better illustrated in Fig 3-, I" v f I eryiand E indicates the piston, which co'i' pris recesses m for the reception of the projections B have their edges arranged about the pros p of the following piston-blades, as showirin r 0 indicates the central shaft of the engine, which is journaled in the bearings d and is preferably provided with a balance or fly wheel 2' at one end and a pulleyj at its-oppo= I site end.

D indicates a disk wheel which is-keyed or? other-"wise fixed to the shaft O and is provided withdovetail projections 7.: upon its peripgoo s the annurar portion 1, havin'gdovetaih k of the disk wheel, so as tofix the-piston .with respect to the shaft, and also having the 6-5 longitudinal central rib it upon its'periph'ery, the radial arms p,.extendinglbetween thecon {i tiguous edges of the ca'sing-sectionsB and into the annular chamber e, and thepistons" I I q q q on the arms p, which are preferably-37o of circular form in conformity to, ihe shape"-* of the chambere in cross-section and are pref erably' provided with suitablepacking-rings f r, as shown. r 1

The inner portions of the casing sections portional distance illustrated apart to afford a play-space s for the armsp'of' the piston," J and they also have their portions between the play-space. s and the annular pistonchamber e rabbeted, as better shown in'Fig; '1, to forrn-a seatt for the receptionof the segmental packing-bars F, of suitable metal which are of asize and shape'in .cross?sec'---- V tion to snugly fit said seat 21, as shown; These 8 5 .bars F are provided with recesses 10 to snugly receive the blades 1 q q of the piston"E-,and

they have their forward ends resting in re oesses v in the arms p of the piston-blades f and their rear ends abutting against the arms ,provided with a throttle-valve I andjs con nected witha generator. (Not illustrated);

J indicates a pipe connecting the pipe II with ports w in the valve-casings .g,- and -K' K indicate slide-valves arranged in the casings g and provided with ports a: for efiecting I communication between the ports w,- 1

Purpose hereinafter to be pointed out.

'point of their length on stationary arms z shown at the bottom of Fig. 3. These valves K K have their stems y. connected to levers L, which are fulcrumed at an intermediate ta'ted the valves will be alternately opened and closed, the cam-slot a being'so *formed. and the levers L being so arranged therein that whenthevalve K is open the valve K gine, .we provide, in cohjunction'with the,

will be closed, and vice versa, for a purpose presentlydescribed. Q

In order to regulate the speed of the endisk R, a centrifugal governor, which pref erably comprises the weighted arms S, fulcrumed on the spokes of pulley j, and links T, connecting said arms and the disk'R,'

whereby it will be .seen that when the speed is so great as to throw the'weighted ends of the arms outwardly a certain extent the disk R will be moved so as to more or less close the steam-outlet passages through the valves, and consequently reduce the speed of rotation of the engine.

M M indicate transversely-inovable partitions or gates which are arranged in the easings f, intersecting the annular piston-charmber e. These partitions or gatesliave openings 1), corresponding in shape and size to the shape of the chamber e in cross-section, and they also'have the recesses 0 (see Fig. 3) in one of their faces, and the openings d, extending from said recesses to their inner edges and.designed to receive packing-strips e', the said strips e being adapted, when the gates are moved into a position to parti tion the annular piston-chamber e, to be pressed by the steam against the packingbars F, so as to prevent the passage of steam from one compartment of the chamber e into another.

.. At one end the gates or movable partitions M M are connected to stems f, which extend through stuffing-boxes g and are connected to the outer ends of levers h, which are fulcrumed on stationaryarms 't', and have their inner ends arranged in a cam-groove j in a disk, N, fixed on the shaft 0, as shown, the said cam-groove j being so formed and the levers it being so arranged that when the gate M is open the gate M is closed, and vice versa, and being also so arranged and timed that when the valve K is open the gate or partition M will extend across and close the chamber e. When said valve K is closed, the gate or partition M will occupy such a position that its opening b registers with the chamber e. When the valve K is open, the

gate or partition M will extend across and .tance to carry the piston-blade q through the opening b of gate M and past the port h. When thepiston-blade q" passes the port h, the valve K will have been closed, the gate M opened, the valve K opened, and the gate-M closed. Steam will now'enter through the port h, and, acting against the blade q,will rotate the piston a suflicient distance to carry I the blade q past the port h, when the parts will assume the position sh own in Fig. 3, when the operation before described will be repeated, withthe exception that the steam en-- 0" tering through the port h will act against the blade (1 instead of .the blade g. In other I words, as each blade of the piston passes the ports h h the gates in rear of the said ports will be automatically closed and the steamvalves will beautomatically opened, 50 as to permit the steam to enter between the gates and the blades and drive the piston-in the I direction indicated by arrow. As each piston-blade passes the exhaust-ports P P the roo steam back of the said blades, havingperformed its function, passes out through said ports, so-as not to cushion or retard the forward movement of the succeeding pistonblades, while the air in front ofthe said pis r05 ton-blades finds free egress through the ports G G, and'consequently does not tendto re-' hard the rotation of the piston.

The segmental packing-bars F form a highly-important feature of our invention inasthrough the space 8 between the casing-sections B, with but a minimum amount of friction between the piston and the casing. Said I r 5 bars Frest loosely between the arms 1) of the piston E and bear loosely upon the casing sections B, and consequently there is practi callyno friction between the harsh and the casing-sections except when the bars are in no action-that is to say, when steam is acting against the piston-blade beneath and in rear of which the bar extends. When steam is acting against the piston-blade beneath and in rear of which a bar F extends, said.bar r25 will be pressed and held tightly in its seat by 'the tendency of the steam, to escape through the space 3 and will efiec'gually prevent such escape of steam and as the steam is acting against butone piston-blade at a' 'time the 1 0 other two bars F'will bear loosely against the casing-sections B and will not add materially to the friction, which is a highly-important advantag The chamber of the casing A is designed to be anair-chamber.

From the foregoing it will be observed that I our improved engine is very simple and'cornpact, that the parts are adapted to be quickly and easily put together, andithat there are no complicated parts to get out of order after a short period of use.

It will also be observed that there is but a minimum amount of friction incident to the rotation of-the piston andthat therefore the power which would otherwise be expended in overcoming friction is utilized to assist in therotation oft-he piston, which renders the engine highly desirable from an economical standpoint.

We have in some respects specifically described the construction and relative arrangement of the parts of our improved engine in order to impart a full, clear, and exact understanding of the same. We do not desire to be understoodasconfining ourselves to such specific construction and arrangement ,of parts, as such changes or modifications may be made in practice as fairly fall Within the scope of our invention,

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is-- tomatic valves controlling the steam-inlet ports, automatic gates or partitions for dividing the annular chamber, and a plurality of separate packing-bars resting loosely within the annular chainberand over the opening or space at the inner side of said chamber and arranged between the blades of the piston and having their forward'portions connectcd and movable with the blades and their rear portions loose, substantially as and for the purpose set-forth.

2. In a rotary engine, the combination of a 1 casing having an annular chamber and an opening or space at the inner side of said chamber, a rotary piston extending through thesaid opening or space and provided within the annular chamber with blades, and suitable packing-sections resting loosely within the annular chamber and over the opening or space at the inner side thereof and connected at one end to and movable with the piston-blades and having their opposite ends thereof, casings intersecting the annular 1. In a rotary engine, the combinationot a loose; ,said packing-sections being adaptedto be pressed by steam against the casing so as to prevent the escape of steam through the opening or space at the inner side of the annular chamber, substantially as specified. 3. In a rotary engine, the combinationof a casing having an annular chamber and an opening or space on the wallof the chamber, a rotary piston extending through said opening and provided within the annular chamher with blades, and the metallic packingbarsconforming in curvature to the wall of the uula-r chamber and arranged in said cha m erover the opening or space in the wallthereofand having recesses adjacent to one end receiving the blades of the piston and their opposite ends loose; said bars bet ing'adapted to-bepressed by steam against v the casing so as to prevent the escape of g steam through the opening or speech the wall of the annular chamber, substantially asspecifiedi 4. 'In a rotary engine,the combination of a casing having a central air-chamber, an annular piston-chamber surrounding the airchamber and provided with a space or opening and a seat 25, in its wall at the inner side chamber, and inlet and exhaust ports for steam, a shaft journaled in the, casing and extending through the air-chamber, a rotary piston fixed with respect to said shaftrand extending through the opening or space on the wall of the annular chamber and provided within said chamber with blades, valves for automatically-opening and closing the steam-inlet port-s, gearing intermediate of the shaft and said valves, gates or partitions, for dividing the annular chamber, provided with openings corresponding in shape and size to the annular chamber, gearing inter" mediate of the shaft and the gates or parti tions, and metallic packing-bars loosely arranged in the seat t, of the annular chamber over theopening or space in the wall thereof and also arranged between the blades of the piston and provided adjacent to one end with, recesses receiving the piston-blades and having their, opposite ends loose, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof we afl x our signatures iii presence of twe witnesses.

f CHARLES A. GALLENDER.

' EM'IL W. PARNO.

Witnesses:

M. i lnnrnnss, 0,. h. MABEE, 

